Transaction Analysis: July 30-August 1, 1999

Just when you thought a team couldn’t get less offensive production out of
a position than the Angels already get out of Gary DiSarcina at shortstop
or Matt Walbeck at catcher, the Angels one-up themselves and go with Jeff
Huson (.288 OBP) and Andy Sheets (.237 OBP) at second base. Toss in Greene
at DH or catcher with his imposing .273 OBP, and you’ve got a good snapshot
of what’s gone, and is still going, wrong.

Not a bad move for the Braves. Bowie and Quevedo are both good prospects,
but they aren’t Bruce Chen or George Lombard. Hernandez should step right
in and play shortstop over the weak contributions of Walt Weiss and Ozzie
Guillen. While that still doesn’t give the Braves a lineup they can really
count on, it does get the worst hitters out of the order.

Terry Mulholland is a nice enough contingency contributor. If Bobby Cox
gets frustrated with Chen, Mulholland can be the fifth starter. If John
Smoltz breaks down again, Mulholland isn’t the worst guy in the world to
take his place. And if the Braves merely want Mulholland to pitch middle
relief, he’ll be part of a very strong bullpen.

Unfortunately, while this is a nice little move, it isn’t the one the
Braves really needed to make. They really needed to find a left fielder or
first baseman who would help this team score runs, and John Schuerholz
failed to do so. While they don’t have anyone as light-hitting as Rey
Ordonez in the lineup, they’re going to have to hope that Tom Glavine and
Chen improve down the stretch if they’re going to put any distance between
themselves and the Mets.

Purchased contract of RHP Jim Corsi from Rochester. [8/1]

Not as much as you might want, but not a terrible return for the Orioles,
since Guzman is a free agent after the season. At 17, Sequea throws hard,
is pitching in a full-season league, and if he stays healthy, should fill
out and maybe even add a couple of inches both to his height and his
fastball. He could also grow up to be the next Josias Manzanillo, if you
remember his extensive career with the Red Sox organization before his 20th
birthday. Ryan has rocketed through the Reds’ organization since being
drafted in June of 1998, and should get a clean shot at the Orioles bullpen
in 2000.

Optioned RHP Jin Ho Cho to Pawtucket; called up RHP Jared
Fernandez from Pawtucket; acquired RHP Bryce Florie from the
Tigers for LHP Mike Maroth; transferred RHP Tom Gordon from
the 15- to the 60-day DL; optioned Fernandez back to Pawtucket. [7/31]

The bad news for the Red Sox is that despite their various needs, they
settled for getting Bryce Florie and Butch Huskey. They need more than that
to finish ahead of the Blue Jays for the wild card. Pending a Pedro
Martinez return, the rotation is Bret Saberhagen, Brian Rose, Pat Rapp,
Mark Portugal and possibly Florie or waiver bait Julio Santana. Losing
Flash Gordon for the year isn’t going to be nearly as critical as
potentially losing Pedro, or not fixing their wounded offense, or settling
for the meager contributions of Rapp and Portugal.

Recalled SS Jose Nieves and RHP Steve Rain from Iowa; placed
RHP Rick Aguilera on the 15-day DL (strained calf). [8/1]

The Cubs almost recognize that they’ve got a problem or two. Unfortunately,
they went after a small problem while ignoring the big one. For the entire
MacPhail/Lynch era, they’ve emphasized pitching in their drafts and player
development. As a result, they don’t have great hitting prospects, which
means they don’t have adequate replacements for this year’s old, bad lineup.

But now that they have finally acknowledged this year is lost, and with few
hitting prospects even remotely ready, what do the Cubs trade for? More
pitching. Not a catcher, not a center fielder with a future, not a third
baseman who can play baseball, but more pitching. Does this mean they’re
not optimistic about what Phil Norton or Brian McNichol or Mike Meyers can
do for them anytime soon? Does that mean the draft strategy of the last
five years has been one big mistake? Getting two (and possibly three)
prospects from the Braves is nice, but having to go out and get them is an
indictment of how the organization has been run over the previous five years.

Bowie’s a good prospect. In Richmond this year, he had a 2.96 ERA, punching
out 82 batters in 73 innings while allowing only 63 hits (four home runs)
and 14 walks. He can top 90, and does a good job of mixing in a curve and a
changeup. He’s going directly into the rotation, despite past elbow problems.

Quevedo is very young (20), and needs to fill out while not being
overworked. He gets his fastball into the low 90s, but for mixed results:
26 home runs and 112 hits allowed in 105 2/3 innings, with a good 98-to-34
K/BB ratio. He should be in middle relief or Iowa next year.

Hopefully, the Cubs will let Nieves get the next two months in at
shortstop, rather the fool around with Manny Alexander. They know what
Alexander can do, and it isn’t enough. Nieves isn’t an offensive standout
himself (.268/.314/.431 with 11 home runs at Iowa). By going out and
getting pitching when the offense is such a big problem, the Cubs don’t
seem to realize that they’ll never be good until they put together the kind
of lineup that will lead the league in scoring. That’s their Wrigley
legacy, and that’s how the Cubs have won in the past. With so many pitchers
already on board for next year, and with so many free agent hitters likely
to leave, the challenge for the Cubs is going to be to buy a better lineup
in the offseason. That can be a good thing, as long as it doesn’t mean
settling for someone slightly better than Mickey Morandini or Benito
Santiago. Ed Lynch’s taste in offensive players leaves a lot to be desired,
but if you want to be optimistic, you can hope that he’s learned from
his–and his team’s–failures.

Acquired RHP Juan Guzman and cash from the Orioles for LHP B.J.
Ryan and RHP Jacobo Sequea. [7/31]

Activated C Brian Johnson off of the DL; placed RHP Steve
Parris on the 15-day DL, retroactive to 7/31 (shoulder tightness). [8/1]

The Reds go for broke at the deadline, bless their wily hearts. Bringing in
Guzman is a nice calculated risk. His ERA has been in the low 3.00s since
April, so he might be the best veteran pitcher to have acquired for the
stretch. He’s a free agent at season’s end, and while Ryan and Sequea are a
nice pair of arms, the Reds aren’t going to have opportunities like this
every year. With Neagle back, the rotation is currently him, Guzman, Pete
Harnisch, Brett Tomko and an inconsistent Ron Villone. Once Parris heal,
Villone should get bumped back into long relief. Overall, the Reds have the
best rotation in the division, and arguably the best pen as well. With
Dmitri Young getting back on track, the offense looks like it’s hitting
full stride, which means the Reds are about as well-positioned to push the
Astros as they’re going to get.

Jerry Willard and Andy Allanson weren’t available, and Joel Skinner says he
prefers managing these days. But anybody’s a better catcher than Borders,
so bring on Levis.

Recalled RHP Jamey Wright from Colorado Springs. [8/1]

The nicest thing you can say about the deal is that it’s a salary dump,
because Hamilton’s under contract for 2000, while McRae is mercifully free
after this year. Johnson doesn’t look like much of a prospect (tall speed
guy, light hitter, already 23 and not out of, let alone dominating,
A-ball), and if he’s supposed to make up the differences between McRae and
Hamilton and between Beltran and McElroy, the Rox have been had. Like all
stick-waving bipeds, McRae will have a nice couple of months in Coors.
He’ll still be the same player, and he’ll be happy to be out from under
Bobby Valentine’s thumb, but he won’t be an asset.

Wright’s return to the big leagues follows a miserable couple of months
pitching for Colorado Springs: a 6.46 ERA, 133 hits in 100 1/3 innings, but
at least he had a decent 75-to-38 K/BB ratio. With Roberto Ramirez doing
nothing to keep the fifth spot in the rotation, Wright should get an
opportunity to reclaim it.

Randy Smith keeps himself busy. Villafuerte’s a nice return on Drumright
(who was going on his third straight awful season as a Mud Hen), pitching
well in long relief and as a spot starter in Portland (3.50 ERA).

Maroth throws hard for a left-hander, but he’s getting knocked around in
the Florida State League (4.04 ERA, more than a hit per inning pitched),
which isn’t a good sign.

Designated RHP Archie Corbin for assignment; recalled RHP Rafael
Medina from Calgary. [8/1]

Having spent the past 20 months acquiring other people’s pitching
prospects, it’s just as well that they stop diddling around with Corbin,
who looks like his claim to fame will be as "the next Dwayne
Henry". Medina’s been strong in middle relief for Calgary (3.34 ERA,
34 strikeouts in 35 innings), and the Marlins need to evaluate him–and
others–to make some informed choices about who will still be on the 40-man
roster in December.

As for picking up Drumright, he’s got his ERA down to 5.97 ERA in Toledo,
improving on his last year’s 6.95. Maybe Dave Dombrowski saw something, but
more likely, Drumright will be available in the minor league drafts at the
winter meetings.

Losing Eusebio isn’t the end of the world, in that Paul Bako has a good
enough glove and has been hitting right-handers well enough this year that
he’s good for picking up the majority of the playing time. Knorr will be
the notional platoon mate, but don’t be surprised if the Astros go
waiver-shopping for a veteran catcher before the August 31 deadline.

Optioned LHP Glendon Rusch to Omaha; transferred RHP Hipolito
Pichardo and INF Scott Leius from the 15- to the 60-day DL. [8/1]

Herk Robinson had his lone opportunity to go out and get a player who might
be the shortstop for this team for several years, and it didn’t happen. He
traded his one disposable, expensive, veteran pitcher, and failed to fill
his team’s most basic need. Sure, the bullpen’s been bad this year, but you
can always shake a few arms loose and turn them into something useful. Rey
Sanchez has been fine as a caretaker at shortstop, but he’s no long-term
answer.

So when push came to shove, and the Royals decided that they had to move
Appier, either because of economics or inertia, what did they get? Stein is
an adequate, borderline, might-turn-into-a-solid-starter type of pitching
prospect. If he gets to cut his teeth in middle relief for a few months, he
may finally turn into a mid-rotation starter, but the Royals will
immediately put him into the rotation. Rigby is a mediocre sinkerball
artist who’s still recovering from back troubles, but nothing about him
screams "hidden talent, future greatness ahead!" Jeff D’Amico has
a nice, straight-as-string fastball that makes a dandy souvenir.

The real pity of this deal is that the A’s even have a solid shortstop
prospect at Vancouver in Jose Ortiz, and it looks like he’s blocked by
Miguel Tejada If there was one guy the Royals should have gotten in an
Appier deal with the A’s, it was Ortiz. That might be unreasonable, in that
this might have been the best deal that the Royals could get. But dealing
Appier didn’t make the Royals a better team, and it’s a pretty dubious
proposition that the money saved will be put to good use. This was a
horribly wasted opportunity, where the Royals accepted quantity over any
quality. Worse yet, what kind of pitching staff do the Royals have now? A
rotation of Jose Rosado, Jeff Suppan, Stein, Jay Witasick and Dan Reichert,
with a bullpen of Scott Service, Rigby, Alvin Morman, Matt Whisenant, Mac
Suzuki and Brian Barber. Do you take that staff over Richmond’s?

Recalled C Paul LoDuca from Albuquerque; optioned C Angel
Pena to Albuquerque. [8/1]

The Dodgers’ organization is basically running on empty when it has to
replace a journeyman like Checo with an even scrubbier minor league vet
like Herges. It wasn’t so long ago that the Dukes were carrying guys like
Dave Pyc and Gary Rath and Will Brunson, solid minor league vets who
deserved a shot at the majors. Herges is pushing 30, and while giving up
more than 5.5 runs per game isn’t that bad by PCL standards, it’s
indicative that the organization has gotten really shallow really quickly.

The supposition with the Pena demotion is that the Dodgers have decided to
be daring and go down in flames with Todd Hundley playing every day. LoDuca
had a hot month for Albuquerque, but that’s sort of besides the point. The
nicest thing about this is that maybe Pena gets some benefit from the
regular playing time in August so that he can come back and start regularly
in September. In the meantime, Malone’s Folly (Hundley, for those of you in
the cheap seats) can handle the spotlight of everyday duty behind the plate.

Goddamn Pan Am! With Charlie Greene off playing in the Pan Am games, the
logical call-up to caddy for the very caddy-dependent Dave Nilsson wasn’t
available. Now that Hughes is out, that makes Brian Banks the backup (and
near-emergency) catcher, and early-’90s washout Eddie Zosky lucks into some
major league service time. Not that any of this will affect the outcome of
the World Series.

Acquired CF Darryl Hamilton and LHP Chuck McElroy from the
Rockies for CF Brian McRae, OF Thomas Johnson, and LHP
Rigo Beltran; acquired RHP Billy Taylor from the Athletics
for RHPs Jason Isringhausen and Greg McMichael; acquired UT
Shawon Dunston from the Cardinals for 3B Craig Paquette. [7/31]

Credit Steve Phillips with doing a great job of coming up with an excellent
roster to go down the stretch with. The heist here is the deal with the
Rox. Hamilton gets on base and can run and play the field well, and reduces
Benny Agbayani to a more-suitable platoon role. The Met lineup is now a fun
collection of waterbugs who get on and skitter around the bases (Cedeno,
Hamilton and Henderson) and boppers to drive them in (Piazza, Olerud,
Ventura and Alfonzo). And Rey Ordonez, because somebody other than the
pitcher has to make outs.

On top of that, the Mets also rescue Chuck McElroy from Jim Leyland’s
mismanagement, getting themselves one of the best left-handed middlemen in
the business. Bobby Valentine will almost certainly not relegate him to
situational usage. Taking a chance on Billy Taylor can be interpreted in a
couple of ways: John Franco may not be back until mid-September, so they
want an established closer around so that they can leave everyone else in
their old roles. Or they want one of the most-fearsome righty-killers of
this decade, since Taylor simply slags right-handed batters. Either way,
he’s a handy addition.

Shawon Dunston probably won’t hit .300 the rest of the way, but he’s an
excellent bench player to have. He can fill in everywhere but pitcher and
catcher, and he’s a good player to have in a pinch-hitting role, since he
isn’t very picky at the plate. This team can take the Braves.

Designated INF Jeff Manto for assignment. [8/1]

The King is back, all hail the King! The Yankees have had their share of
problems against left-handed pitching this year, so bringing Leyritz back
isn’t a bad idea. He can DH, catch, play some first base or resurrect the
memory of Andy Hawkins’ no-hit loss with a few innings out in left field.
Mostly, he’ll make for good drama during his at-bats in the postseason.

Anyone want to give me odds that the Indians re-claim Manto?

Optioned RHP Blake Stein to Vancouver; added RHP Omar Olivares to
the active roster. Acquired RHPs Jason Isringhausen and Greg
McMichael from the Mets for RHP Billy Taylor; acquired RHP
Kevin Appier from the Royals for RHPs Brad Rigby, Blake
Stein and Jeff D’Amico. [7/31]

Recalled RHPs Carl Dale and Brett Laxton from Vancouver. [8/1]

What have the A’s accomplished? Mostly a public relations coup. They have
created a sense that the A’s are close and that they’re trying to get
closer. There’s no way to quantify that.

Now, it’s still more likely that the Rangers will come back to the A’s than
the A’s will outplay the Jays for the wild card or get so scorching hot
that they pass the Rangers. But the victories of these deals are that they
didn’t cost the A’s much in terms of talent, while scoring big in terms of
team morale and selling themselves to fans and potential season-ticket
holders for seasons to come. On that level, the trades are huge successes.

Take a hard look at the numbers, and you see that Appier hasn’t been that
good this year, to the point that it’s an open question whether or not they
pick up the option for next year. He’s obviously an improvement on Mike
Oquist, though. Izzy and McMichael are probably better guys to have around
than a suddenly flammable Billy Taylor or the immortal Brad Rigby. But if
you ask me whether or not it’s enough, I’ll tell you I don’t know, and I
don’t think so, but damned if it doesn’t give them a fighting chance.

The best-case scenario is that Isringhausen is actually up to stepping into
next year’s rotation, and Appier looks so good the A’s pick up the option.
Add the two of them to Tim Hudson and a more consistent Jimmy Haynes, and
it isn’t hard to see the A’s hammering out a few division titles over the
next few years. They won’t need new ownership to do it, and they won’t need
more money. As always, they need time, and right now they could use some
luck going into a stretch in which they’ll go toe-to-toe with the Red Sox
and Blue Jays in the next couple of weeks.

Losing Christiansen hurts the Pirates, but Nashville’s losing Jimmy
Anderson hurts their chances for PCL postseason glory even worse. It isn’t
like the Pirates’ games mean all that much at this point, and it isn’t like
Anderson’s going to get to start.

Recalled INF Placido Polanco from Memphis. [8/1]

Paquette will probably end up in Memphis after he returns from the Pan Am
games, not that it’s surprising that another ex-Oaklander will wind up
playing for Walt Jocketty and Tony LaRussa. Mostly, this move is just a
nice "get Shawon to the postseason" gesture.

Acquired RHP Geraldo Padua from the Yankees for C/UT Jim
Leyritz; activated SS Chris Gomez off of the DL. [7/31]

Arias has been built up for so long that it’s important to remember that
he’s 27 already. If it hasn’t happened yet, it isn’t going to, and the
Padres are right to take the next couple of months to decide if Phil Nevin
can go back to being a third baseman.

Getting Padua for Leyritz seems about right, considering how tight most
teams have been about surrendering prospects. He’s been dominant in the
Carolina League, with an excellent record of control and 155 strikeouts in
139 2/3 innings, but it will be several years before the Pads will earn any
bragging rights in their half of the deal.

I know a few Yankee fans who are already regretting this trade because
Padua’s a legitimate prospect, but the Knoblauch and Yarnall heists have
made them a greedy lot who get disappointed when Cashman doesn’t humiliate
his trading partner.

Recalled INF Ramon Martinez from Fresno; optioned INF Wilson
Delgado to Fresno. [7/31]

A four-year contract for Snow? Pennies from heaven, indeed. It isn’t every
mediocre, benchable first baseman who gets multi-year security, and it
isn’t going to help the Giants at all. Giant fans can at least take some
heart in that they’ve got Bonds and especially Kent signed for less than
market value. But chalk this up as a major gaffe for Brian Sabean. Snow
simply isn’t among the league’s better first basemen, and this deal makes
any mistake the Phillies will make by signing Rico Brogna for years to come
look semi-astute by comparison.

Cloude can let out a sigh of relief, since he’s free of Lou Piniella for a
few days. Letting him start in Tacoma is probably the best way to get him
back on track. Firing Piniella before calling him back would be even better.

Davey’s 4.70 ERA from his stint with the Jays is good for the third-best
ERA in the Mariners’ pen. That isn’t a statement of quality as much as an
indictment of Piniella.

A possible upgrade? Graffy hit well for Durham (.313/.379/.499), while
Cairo’s continuing his Johnny Ray Lite act (.302/.343/.396). The problem
isn’t really one of which one is good and which one isn’t, since both are
adequate. The problems are ones of price, choice and whether or not any
potential savings from not committing to either of them would be spent wisely.

As reader John Perkins has pointed out, the Rangers’ exploitation of
Oklahoma’s pitching staff has taken a pretty nasty turn. As the Rangers
essentially keep a roster spot open to sift through Danny Kolb, Johnson,
and now Davis as mop-up men, they’re undermining Oklahoma’s playoff hopes.
The Red Hawks have the third-best record in the PCL, seven games in back of
Nashville. Losing a rotation starter every week so that he can cool his
heels and hope to pitch in a blowout isn’t a particularly effective way to
use your talent or honor a relationship with a minor league affiliate.

Signed RHP John Hudek to a minor-league contract, and assigned him
to Syracuse. [7/31]

Nothing wrong with stockpiling guys with opposable thumbs, I guess.